The nature of artwork is to be interpreted by those people that perceive it. In that way, the context within which artwork is both creative and observed is highly influential to people's perception of it. Regardless of this context however, I think that there is always some level of commentary being asserted by a piece of artwork. One of the reasons for this is that it's virtually impossible for something that is created to not be impacted by the things going on around it, and that basic relationship, regardless of the creator's intent, will always be reflected in people observing that artwork.

To speak to the artwork of Mel Chin, I think the projects he was doing were more similar to public works than actual art in their objective state, but Chin seemed to be doing them for the purpose of exploring these different relationships between separate concepts. Rather than focus his work on the message of "value and preserve these dying cultures" the message he expressed was, "I want to explore the relationship between the growth of video games and the death of these tribal cultures."

First of all, I didn't like his work just because his intentions seemed to be entirely separate from the potential impact these public works would provide, but I think this reinforces the idea that art is inherently commentary on something at some level. Even when discussing the idea of a "second life" for the houses in Detroit, there was a level of political commentary about the decay of society being provided by these works. ​This is important because there is implicit meaning in the act of creation, even when there is no explicit intention on the part of the artist.

Just to address what is probably being asked in the original intent of this assignment, art's inherent role as commentary will always serve to influence those impacted by it, especially when the art is perceived as culturally significant, either because of its popularity or because of the nature of its message. We see in Warhol's work that this idea of consumerism and the conflict between "low" and "high" art take hold of American society, for example. Or Ai Weiwei's use of backpacks to speak to the deaths of school children at the neglectful hands of the Chinese government.

The nature of this relationship is positive as well. People and culture and society ought to be influenced by creators and products of the context that they are produced within. It helps to keep society changing and improving. Even when there is a propaganda aspect, or an element of political activism or couterculturalism, art serves as a mechanism for societal reflection and a deeper understanding of how we as humans exist. To describe my own work, which is an exploration of color and form using both sculptural and 2 dimensional elements can serve as commentary on the nature of visual stimuli, or my struggle with traditional media. We need art to evolve as a society, and this can only come from art influencing us through its innate commentary.